Having a shower in your open air ensuite listening to the beautiful afternoon call to prayer – how do they get, and hold, those high notes? – is a rather surreal and somewhat magical experience.
This is Gili Trawangan; in an hour the call to prayer or Adhan will become jumbled up (I don’t mean remixed) with reggae rythms, people playing guitar on the street and the unmistakeable rolling base beat of Trance music.
The largest of the three Gili islands Trawangan is home to an odd mix of resorts, diving schools and backpackers stuffing their faces with mushrooms and playing beer pong! My stay here has been mixed with the torture of still rehabbing my foot and a brilliant introduction to freediving in beautiful waters teeming with life.
My first experience of Freediving was primarily because i wanted to learn how to control my breath in big waves but after this baptism I may be a little hooked. You simply float there holding a buoy, staring down into the turquoise water with penetrating rays of light which instead of appearing to go away disappearing into the dark depths they shine invitingly out of the ultramarine fathoms that just disappear like the sky of a horizon but, only no horizontal feeling of edge, end, distance. Beautiful – scary – unknown.
I had issues equalising my sinuses which had me with a towel over my head, over a bowl of steaming water filled with ginger and turmeric and, somewhat more alarmingly, turned me vegan! So didn’t quite have as much fun as intended but the amount I did experience definitely made me think I could enjoy this completely natural – our bodies were designed for it – challenge. Just don’t tell mum.
Off for my visa run to Singapore…then…back on a surfboard.
Be seeing you all so soon.
Kinder
Other points to know about Gili T:
DO NOT get the Sempana Ferry, engines broke down three times on the way over and then it was two hours late on the way back due to them breaking again and they broke down another few times on the way back too!
I also had my first no2 today (Thursday) after spending the whole of Monday night on the loo, don’t eat at the night market. Costs just the same as everywhere else but comes with a significant service.
No scooters are allowed – bliss!
